MoCo OIG Blasts Taylor and MCPS for lies over backlog and non-compliance with background and CPS checks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MCPS employee. What really bothered me is that Taylor wrote us a "tongue in cheek" kind of email about the compliance training we had to do. Maybe he was trying to be funny but it really rubbed me the wrong way with all this stuff going on.

Anonymous wrote:And yet, Taylor, Jones and Moran had plenty of time to make their stupid snow day video. Priorities.

Fellow MCPS employee, and I agree.

Also, MCPS’ hiring process moves so slowly - I am shocked they’re having trouble finding the time to complete background checks.

Im also bothered that in the era of the me-too movement, there was never a discussion of any sort about the beidelman scandal aftermath. We are still a pre-dominantly female workforce. Some honesty and courageous conversations around this were necessary and never happened. Swept under the rug as usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this bit interesting. I'm confused by what "attempts to alert previous leadership" means-- either you alert someone or you don't (if you tell them and they don't take action, you have still successfully "alerted" them.) Or does it mean that the lower-level staff tried to get their bosses to tell past superintendents and their bosses wouldn't?

"Contrary to assertions made by the Superintendent, OIG staff enjoyed an excellent working relationship with numerous MCPS staff involved in the background check process. We found
these staff members and their counterparts to be open and forthcoming about the challenges in
their work, including their attempts to alert previous leadership about the criminal history and
CPS check backlogs."

I think previous leadership means April Key, since as head of HR, she would have been the one overseeing the BSO.

So do you think it means the lower-level staff failed to alert April Key because they were blocked by other HR staff? Or that they failed to alert past superintendents because they were blocked by April Key? Or something else?

Regardless, I feel like this is an important piece of the story that needs to come out...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MCPS employee. What really bothered me is that Taylor wrote us a "tongue in cheek" kind of email about the compliance training we had to do. Maybe he was trying to be funny but it really rubbed me the wrong way with all this stuff going on.

Anonymous wrote:And yet, Taylor, Jones and Moran had plenty of time to make their stupid snow day video. Priorities.

Fellow MCPS employee, and I agree.

Also, MCPS’ hiring process moves so slowly - I am shocked they’re having trouble finding the time to complete background checks.

Im also bothered that in the era of the me-too movement, there was never a discussion of any sort about the beidelman scandal aftermath. We are still a pre-dominantly female workforce. Some honesty and courageous conversations around this were necessary and never happened. Swept under the rug as usual.

God bless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this bit interesting. I'm confused by what "attempts to alert previous leadership" means-- either you alert someone or you don't (if you tell them and they don't take action, you have still successfully "alerted" them.) Or does it mean that the lower-level staff tried to get their bosses to tell past superintendents and their bosses wouldn't?

"Contrary to assertions made by the Superintendent, OIG staff enjoyed an excellent working relationship with numerous MCPS staff involved in the background check process. We found
these staff members and their counterparts to be open and forthcoming about the challenges in
their work, including their attempts to alert previous leadership about the criminal history and
CPS check backlogs."

I think previous leadership means April Key, since as head of HR, she would have been the one overseeing the BSO.

So do you think it means the lower-level staff failed to alert April Key because they were blocked by other HR staff? Or that they failed to alert past superintendents because they were blocked by April Key? Or something else?

Regardless, I feel like this is an important piece of the story that needs to come out...

Sort of this. I think previous superintendents knew and told April to block, bury and deflect.

Unfortunately for April, she is the fall guy and so she was demoted. But for her loyalty in taking one for the team, she only gets demoted to being a coordinator of an Infant and Toddler Care center, instead of being fired as she would in most normal organizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this bit interesting. I'm confused by what "attempts to alert previous leadership" means-- either you alert someone or you don't (if you tell them and they don't take action, you have still successfully "alerted" them.) Or does it mean that the lower-level staff tried to get their bosses to tell past superintendents and their bosses wouldn't?

"Contrary to assertions made by the Superintendent, OIG staff enjoyed an excellent working relationship with numerous MCPS staff involved in the background check process. We found
these staff members and their counterparts to be open and forthcoming about the challenges in
their work, including their attempts to alert previous leadership about the criminal history and
CPS check backlogs."

I think previous leadership means April Key, since as head of HR, she would have been the one overseeing the BSO.

So do you think it means the lower-level staff failed to alert April Key because they were blocked by other HR staff? Or that they failed to alert past superintendents because they were blocked by April Key? Or something else?

Regardless, I feel like this is an important piece of the story that needs to come out...

Sort of this. I think previous superintendents knew and told April to block, bury and deflect.

Unfortunately for April, she is the fall guy and so she was demoted. But for her loyalty in taking one for the team, she only gets demoted to being a coordinator of an Infant and Toddler Care center, instead of being fired as she would in most normal organizations.

So if you take one for the team, you get demoted? Is that what happened with former principal of BCC https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1284429.page ? Did he take one for the failure of MCPS communications (the ones who don't have time for dcum nor to properly review contents of a letter https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1112215.page ) ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents: contact your STATE elected Delegates and State Senators

Yep, each family who are concerned

Like the 4 of you on DCUM?

MCPS arrogance. You never change.

List of MD State Senators
mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/Index/senate/county

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this bit interesting. I'm confused by what "attempts to alert previous leadership" means-- either you alert someone or you don't (if you tell them and they don't take action, you have still successfully "alerted" them.) Or does it mean that the lower-level staff tried to get their bosses to tell past superintendents and their bosses wouldn't?

"Contrary to assertions made by the Superintendent, OIG staff enjoyed an excellent working relationship with numerous MCPS staff involved in the background check process. We found
these staff members and their counterparts to be open and forthcoming about the challenges in
their work, including their attempts to alert previous leadership about the criminal history and
CPS check backlogs."

I think previous leadership means April Key, since as head of HR, she would have been the one overseeing the BSO.

So do you think it means the lower-level staff failed to alert April Key because they were blocked by other HR staff? Or that they failed to alert past superintendents because they were blocked by April Key? Or something else?

Regardless, I feel like this is an important piece of the story that needs to come out...

Sort of this. I think previous superintendents knew and told April to block, bury and deflect.

Unfortunately for April, she is the fall guy and so she was demoted. But for her loyalty in taking one for the team, she only gets demoted to being a coordinator of an Infant and Toddler Care center, instead of being fired as she would in most normal organizations.

So if you take one for the team, you get demoted? Is that what happened with former principal of BCC https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1284429.page ? Did he take one for the failure of MCPS communications (the ones who don't have time for dcum nor to properly review contents of a letter https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1112215.page ) ?

In general, with the MCPS admin class, if you take one for the team and/or activate your union to fight like hell against your removal, you end up with a cushy gig in some other area of MCPS.

For example:

Casey Crouse, the Damascus High School principal who failed in the broomstick sexual assault scandal and was given a "special assignment" in the HR department: https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/05/damascus-principal-struck-deal-to-resign-retain-160k-salary-in-mcps-office-job/

Others with similar sweetheart deals include:
- Doug Nelson from Wootton, principal who was dismissed from Wootton and now works in the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs

[Anonymous]

Since that post got buried, here it is

List of MD State Senators
mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/Index/senate/county

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Less than one year for Taylor to establish his reputation as completely untrustworthy and arrogant, deflecting criticism instead of showing thanks for it.

Many were after him from day 30, "he hasn't made any changes." Others saying give him time. It looks like those at CO were looking for changes in HR without saying HR. Now a year later, what had improved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less than one year for Taylor to establish his reputation as completely untrustworthy and arrogant, deflecting criticism instead of showing thanks for it.

Many were after him from day 30, "he hasn't made any changes." Others saying give him time. It looks like those at CO were looking for changes in HR without saying HR. Now a year later, what had improved?

He had a year. He’s had time. He blew off the meetings and concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately for April, she is the fall guy and so she was demoted. But for her loyalty in taking one for the team, she only gets demoted to being a coordinator of an Infant and Toddler Care center, instead of being fired as she would in most normal organizations.

The Infants and Toddlers Program is NOT a care center. It’s is a program that works with families who have children under the age of 3 with either delays in their development or have a high probability of developing delays due to a pre existing medical diagnosis. It is part of the Office of Special Education.

This is what April Key is now a coordinator for.

[Anonymous]

It’s inexcusable and bizarre. I worked in PGCPS before MCPS. They have mandatory new teacher orientation where they fingerprint you, run your background check, the whole thing. When I got hired in MCPS the new teacher orientation was a ton of speeches, kid performances, and then almost a full day of getting curriculum slides read to me. MCPS gets away with SO much because of reputation. State test security and special education services need to be investigated next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately for April, she is the fall guy and so she was demoted. But for her loyalty in taking one for the team, she only gets demoted to being a coordinator of an Infant and Toddler Care center, instead of being fired as she would in most normal organizations.

The Infants and Toddlers Program is NOT a care center. It’s is a program that works with families who have children under the age of 3 with either delays in their development or have a high probability of developing delays due to a pre existing medical diagnosis. It is part of the Office of Special Education.

This is what April Key is now a coordinator for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s inexcusable and bizarre. I worked in PGCPS before MCPS. They have mandatory new teacher orientation where they fingerprint you, run your background check, the whole thing. When I got hired in MCPS the new teacher orientation was a ton of speeches, kid performances, and then almost a full day of getting curriculum slides read to me. MCPS gets away with SO much because of reputation. State test security and special education services need to be investigated next.

Wow. I keep thinking MCPS cannot surprise me with its unseriousness and they keep surprising me.

[Anonymous]

The Infants and Toddlers Program is NOT a care center. It’s is a program that works with families who have children under the age of 3 with either delays in their development or have a high probability of developing delays due to a pre existing medical diagnosis. It is part of the Office of Special Education.

This is what April Key is now a coordinator for.